NIGHTMARE IN DALLAS: A REVIEW

                          John Delane Williams

   Nightmare in Dallas is the autobiographical story of the "Babushka Lady" written by Beverly Oliver, with Coke Buchanan [1].

As is typically true of firsthand accounts, no footnotes or references are encountered, even when their use would be required; for example, several JFK speeches are quoted at length without citation. The co-authorship of Coke Buchanan (who apparently had a large hand in the actual writing) is due at least in part to some serendipitous parallels in their lives- while Oliver was in Dealy Plaza, the younger Buchanan was at Love Field, viewing the arrival of JFK. Three years later, they were both working at the same restaurant in Dallas, she as a singer and he as a waiter, though they only became aware of this mutuality in 1992, when Buchanan was writing an article regarding the JFK assassination.

   Though they separate the book into six parts, the book can be seen as in two parts, the first part ending shortly after JFK's death, and the second part continuing on with Oliver's life. The first part intertwines the chronology of Oliver's and JFK's lives, with JFK's life  recorded to a considerable degree by lengthy quotes from his speeches, one of which goes on for seven pages. The reason for the inclusion of Kennedy's speeches was to help reestablish the memory of Kennedy's presidency, as in contradistinction to the more recent focusing on the negative aspects of Kennedy's personal life. [2]

   At the age of 14, Beverly Oliver, who lived in Garland (a Northeast suburb of Dallas) had appeared in a variety of Western venues as a singer. She went to the Colony Club in Dallas (a strip tease club which was a near neighbor of Jack Ruby's Carousel Club) and was involved in two amateur strip-tease contests on a dare. Jack Ruby introduced himself to her on the street after the second contest. At 14, Oliver also found herself pregnant. She gave birth to a baby girl on February 22, 1962. The child was given up for adoption.  In the summer of 1962, she got a job as a saloon singer at the family amusement park, Six Flags Over Texas. There, she met Larry Ronco, an Eastman Kodak representative who kept the park in film and plastered the park with pictures of the attractive Miss Oliver. When it was found out that she had performed at the Colony Club, she lost the Six Flags job. When the season ended, Ronco stayed in Dallas, continuing to see Oliver, eventually proposing to her, though his own marriage was not yet ended.

   Oliver then went to work for the Colony Club as a singer between strip acts. She also began to cultivate a relationship with Jack Ruby at the nearby Carousel Club. Before 1962 was ended, she had accompanied Ruby on one of his many trips. She apparently added "class" to Ruby; there apparently was no sexuality in their arrangement.

   1963 brought additional complexities to the life of young Miss Oliver. She accompanied Ruby to New Orleans (Oliver doesn't give a time, but Kantor [3] puts this in June, 1963) as Ruby was booking Jada (Janet Conforto) to dance in his club. Ronco returned from New York, not with divorce in hand, but rather with a not yet publicly available Yashika movie camera for Beverly. Ruby tried to talk Ronco out of the camera; the best he could get was that Ronco said he would get Ruby one "when he could get his hands on another one". Inferring from what was known later (Ronco had allegedly stolen a painting, p. 141), Ronco may have stolen the prototype camera (it was placed in general release in 1965 [4]) when he was employed by Eastman Kodak (this inference is the present writer's and not made by Oliver).

   Oliver had seen David Ferrie around the Carousel Club so much that she thought he might be an assistant manager. She also saw Roscoe White at the Carousel Club; his presence there was not unusual, since his wife Geneva was employed at the Carousel as a hostess; Oliver knew Roscoe White only as Geneva's husband. Oliver was introduced io Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby; Jada was also present (again, Oliver does not give a date, but it would appear that this would have occurred between November 8 and November 12) A few days later, Oswald was thrown out of the Carousel by Ruby for disturbing a comedy routine. At about the same time, Ronco claimed that Ferrie offered him $50,000 to kill Castro.

                   November 21-22, 1963  

   On the 21st, Oliver went to the Carousel Club; she intended to attend several parties with Ruby. She talked briefly with Jada.

Oliver was wearing the green and white polka-dot silk dress purchased for her by Ruby. Ruby took offense that, since Oliver was staying up all night and then, without changing, watching the JFK motorcade..."You mean you're going to wear the dress I bought you down to see that S.O.B.?" Around 9 P.M., Ruby and Oliver entered the Cabana Hotel. Oliver says that Larry Meyers was introduced to her (Meyers, a sporting goods salesman from Chicago has said that he met with Ruby at the Cabana on November 21; [5]  no mention was made of Oliver.) Another of the mysterious people with them was a person referred to as "Donny Lance", whom Oliver danced with and who presumably was a "business" associate of Ruby's. (pp. 108-109). Ruby, Meyers and Oliver then went to Campesi's (The Egyptian Lounge) for steaks around 10 P.M. (Curiously, Ruby had reportedly gone to dinner that evening with Ralph Paul, a business associate and co-owner of the Carousel Club. [6]) They (Ruby, Meyers and Oliver) returned to the Cabana Hotel where Oliver put on a dark wig and went to a party with an unnamed escort (a curious part of the Oliver-Buchanan writing is the dropping in of little mysteries) in Ft. Worth around 1 A.M. Perhaps, it was the second time they went to the Cabana Hotel that is described by Kantor, [7] which would explain why Oliver was not mentioned as being at the meeting. Ruby is also said to have gone to breakfast at 2:30 A.M. with Larry Crafard, a handy-man employee at the Carousel Club. One interpretation of this conflicting information is that an attempt to establish an alibi was being made for Ruby. [8]

   From Ft. Worth, Oliver took a taxi back to Dallas. She reached her car in The Colony Club parking lot around 11:10 A.M. on the 22nd. There, she changed her shoes, got the camera and proceeded to look for a good vantage point to film the presidential motorcade. She chose a place near the curb on Elm Street next to a father and son (Charles Brehm and his son; Brehm was among the first witnesses to be interviewed; see [9]). As the motorcade came into view, Oliver began to film. She likely had a good recording of the Texas School Book Depository as JFK turned onto Elm. She continued filming even after JFK was hit. She stood motionless as many others began running toward the picket fence, where Oliver assumed the shots had emanated. She recognized Roscoe White (sans his gun) and felt he recognized her. Oliver than drove home, took a sleeping pill and then went to sleep.

                    November 23-27

   When Oliver awakened and heard Oswald had been charged with shooting JFK from the Texas School Book Depository, it didn't make sense to her. JFK was shot from the front, not from behind. The person who was accused of the assassination had only recently been introduced to her. On Sunday, she found out about the murder of Oswald by Ruby by watching television. When Oliver was going back to the Colony Club to sing on Monday evening, she was met by two men, probably from the FBI (she later identified one of the men as Regis Kennedy, from the FBI in New Orleans). They took her undeveloped film, told her it would be returned in a few days and left. As she went into the club, two reporters asked her about Jack Ruby. She denied knowing him. Oliver remembers saying "If they could kill the president of the United States, they could kill a two-bit show girl like me and it wouldn't even make the back page of the newspaper" (p. 133). On Wednesday, Oliver went to the Carousel to find that Jada was gone, never again to be seen or heard of by Oliver.

                         Married to the Mob

   The relationship with Larry Ronco was short-lived; Ronco changed after the assassination; his pursuit of Oliver became so over-bearing that she obtained a restraining order. Later, she heard that Ronco committed suicide. Oliver met a gambler named George McGann. They were married on July 31, 1966. The reception was hosted by Tony and Janie Janero. Shortly afterward, McGann admitted "wasting" Tony, who had gotten too far behind in paying his bills. McGann and Oliver took over the Janero nightclub, the Sky King. At a get-together of McGann's friends (including, she determined later, Charles Harrelson), the JFK assassination came up. When Oliver tried to enter the discussion, McGann forceably removed Oliver from the room, threatening to kill her if she ever talked about it again. The gambling and occassional killing continued until McGann's own death occurred under suspicious circumstances on September 29, 1970, following the death  of their son George Massey (he was given an assumed name) who was less than three hours old. In the six chapters devoted to her life with George McGann, Oliver fails to discuss her meeting with her husband and Richard Nixon at the 1968 Republican National Convention, which is reported in interviews with Gary Shaw [10]. The only mention of the Nixon encounter in the present book is a sentence (p. 197) wherein she describes her meetings with Shaw.

   Beverly Oliver's existence from 14 to age 24 would seem to be the stuff of Hollywood scripts but not the stuff of a real life. At a very young age, she was confronted by twists of fate that must have tried her very soul. At 17, she had given a child up for adoption, performed in a strip tease show, sung in a variety of venues, but most recently in strip clubs, made the acquaintance of what would become the Who's Who of the JFK assassination, witnessed that assassination from a few feet away, and recorded that assassination on camera. That is heady stuff which few of us would have the emotional stability to withstand, particularly at 17.

                         Life Goes on

   Prior to George's death, Oliver became involved in fundamental Christian religion, adding her voice to the choir, and often attended revivals. At one such revival, she met Gary Shaw, and over time, gave him several interviews. She also met an evangelist, Charles Massagee; they were married a few weeks later. If her life had been on an emotional roller-coaster, at least she now had someone she could depend upon. If the life of the wife of an itinerant Baptist evangelist can be normal, then it would appear that some degree of normalcy had finally come to her. That is not to say her life was easy; she developed lupus, and a second son, Trey, died when he was not yet three months old. A second daughter, Pebbles, was born. Pebbles also appeared to be ill; a suspected familial genetic disorder, primary hyperoxaluria, may have been involved. Oliver donated a kidney to her daughter, despite having lupus. As of July, 1997, Pebbles has had a total of four transplants, including a liver transplant; the concern for her daughter in the present seems more removed from Dealey Plaza than a mere 34 years. [11] 

   Shaw had Oliver look at a variety of pictures to see whom she might identify from the past. She identified pictures of Guy Banister, and New Orleans attorney Dean Andrews, who had earlier represented Oswald; all had shown up at the Carousel Club. Also identified was Jack Lawrence, (who was "Donny Lance", whom she had seen on several occasions at the Carousel and danced with at one time; while she doesn't explicitly say that Lawrence was Lance in the book, she does so in [12]).  Jack Lawrence was reported to have been arrested on the afternoon of November 22, 1963; he was supposedly acting suspiciously directly after the assassination at the Downtown Lincoln Mercury dealership, two blocks from Dealey Plaza. He had borrowed one of the firms' cars the evening of November 21 for a "heavy" date. The car Lawrence used was found behind the picket fence at the grassy knoll. [13] Lawrence denies all of these allegations. [14] Inkbol, who considers himself to be 'careful researcher' [15] and the author of [14] had earlier concluded that "...Lawrence was part of the conspiracy that killed President Kennedy..." [16, p. 12] (perhaps Inkbol should have been more 'careful'). Inkbol made a considerable turnaround after interviewing Lawrence. It is difficult to assess Lawrence's activities regarding Dallas, 1963. On the one hand, he appears to come under two of Van Wynsberghe's [17] rules of thumb as to the usefulness of a source's information regarding the assassination: "The source defies corroboration", and "The source is trailed by nagging details." To be sure, Van Wynsberghe also questions the reliability of Oliver, claiming she demands faith in her story and citing additionally two of Oliver's writings as indicating this expectation of faith/belief [18, 19]. Perhaps it is a matter of interpretation but I don't find Miss Oliver, either in her writing or in her interview with me, to demand that she be believed, but rather, that her story be seriously considered. It could also be pointed out that the inclusion or exclusion of Lawrence is not an essential component of her story. To be excluded is more important to Lawrence. Oliver says that "If It wasn't Lawrence she danced with on November 21, 1963, then it must have been his identical twin." [20] The possibility of Lawrence being 'set-up' by someone should not lightly be dismissed. However, it is clear that Lawrence's reported memory of events clashes with a variety of other reports about his activities. Rose renders the reasoned comment that the last word on Lawrence is not Lawrence's prerogative. [21]

   Oliver may still be silent on some areas. There continue to be people that she still ... "refused to acknowledge for fear of her life. There were people still alive who would kill her for breaking the code of silence about their activities." (p. 219) She also may be silent in personal areas that she sees as having no bearing on the assassination.

   Oliver went public, first on the British television production, The Men Who Killed Kennedy, which was later shown on American cable television [22].  She also served as a consultant and had a brief part in the movie, JFK. [23] An interesting aside is that Jack Ruby taught Beverly Oliver how to shoot a gun. (p. 242). In light of this, it could call into question Tex Brown's assertion that he taught Ruby and Oswald how to fire guns just prior to the assassination. [24] It is of course possible that both Oliver and Brown are entirely truthful, but it would also bring up the question, "Why would Ruby go through the motions of learning how to fire a gun if he already knows how?" -unless going thru the motions served some secondary purpose.

   Because of her own unanswered questions regarding her part in the assassination, Oliver decided to undergo hypnosis. She was concerned that someone may have been programmed to shoot at JFK when they saw the woman in the green and white polka-dot dress; recall that Sirhan Sirhan had met with a woman in a polka-dot dress immediately before Sirhan fired at Robert Kennedy. [25] She was also wanting to know why she had a very uneasy feeling about her last visit to Larry Ronco's apartment, when she saw something and then did not go in- but could not recall what she saw. The chapter on Oliver's hypnosis demonstrates a positive approach (that is, in a thoughtful therapeutic environment) to hypnosis, though reader's who are skeptical of hypnosis might be far more willing to agree with followers [26] of Elizabeth Loftus [27] regarding the construction of "false memory syndrome". Under hypnosis, Oliver reconstructed events at Ronco's apartment. In the reconstruction, a man named Roberto Guzman, whom she had seen together with Ruby and Ferrie, was showing Ronco a gun. It was this episode that presumably caused her to break off relations with Ronco.

                Larry Howard and Some Unusual Stories      

   Oliver met Larry Howard, the co-director of the JFK Center in Dallas, who has been told some unusual stories about the assassination, and has undoubtedly developed a keen sense of skepticism. One such story was in regard to Jack Ruby. In 1980, a woman, not identified by Oliver, living in Atlanta, received a press clipping about Johnny Roselli with a typed note saying "Gene Dunbar" Jack Ruby, real name Jacob Rubenstein (and then signed in a secret code known to the woman's husband). The woman and her husband knew the killer of Oswald as Gene Dunbar. Dunbar and her husband worked undercover as information couriers for President Roosevelt from March 1933 to September 1945. (Kantor not only makes no mention of this in regard to Ruby, but also Ruby was drafted into the Army Air Force from mid 1943 to February 1946, serving at southern U.S. bases (p. 202)). The Atlanta couple made contact with the person who sent the clipping, Thomas Kennedy, of Chicago, who claimed to be Ruby. "Ruby" claimed that another man who was dying of cancer at the same time he was in the Dallas hospital switched identities after the man was dead (recall that Ruby died of cancer less than a month after the diagnosis [28, p. 429-433]). "Ruby" was then flown to Mexico City by Ferrie where alterations were made surgically of his face. The new "Ruby" had blue eyes, not dark as were Ruby's. Also, there seemed to be credible witnesses to Ruby's death. Still, Kennedy had a remarkable knowledge of Ruby that was unlikely to have been known by someone else. Also, when Oliver asked Kennedy what was the only gift that he had wrapped for her, Kennedy wrote, "a green and white polka-dot dress."        

       Was Beverly Oliver Too Thin to be the Babushka Lady?

   A nagging question is the issue of weight. The "Babushka Lady" is termed "stocky" by Posner [29, p. 260]. Others have questioned whether the "Babushka Lady" could possibly be the youthful Miss Oliver (including recently Whitmey [30]). Pictures of the "Babushka Lady" in Oliver's book (slipcase, 180, 181, 182) do indeed appear to be someone heavier than pictures of Beverly shown on page 177 (taken in 1963, probably a publicity photo) page 178 (taken at Six Flags, supposedly in 1963, but probably in 1962) and at her wedding in 1966. (p.177) Two other pictures from 1963 (p. 178, with Larry Ronco and one taken in October by Ruby, p. 177) would indicate a person whose weight could fluctuate rather rapidly. Not including the Six Flags picture (probably from 1962), the three 1963 pictures show Oliver carrying more weight than earlier or later. Oliver says that she obtained a picture of the "Babushka Lady" and had blow-ups done of the feet; Oliver has a particular deformation involving the placement and small size of her little toe. [31] Perhaps Miss Oliver can be persuaded to share these pictures with the research community. Pictures of the stocky Babushka Lady, acknowledged by Oliver to be her are undoubtedly what she says they are. This is not to say that persons in the research community shouldn't seek additional confirmation (or refutation) on this matter.

               Why Did Oliver Write This Book?

   Here, Oliver tells us why..."I have decided to write a book about my experiences so that people who are interested will have a testimony with as much detail as possible, even if it's significance seems trite. I want to record my story, get it behind me; then get on with my life." (p.279). It would seem redundant to

try to go beyond her statement.

Thanks to Beverly Oliver Massagee and Gary Shaw.

Notes

1. Oliver, B. with Buchanan, C. (1994). Nightmare in Dallas. Lancaster, PA: Starburst Publishers.

2. Telephone interview with Beverly Oliver Massagee, July 22, 1997.

3. Kantor, S. (1978). The Ruby Cover-up. New York: Kensington Pub.

4. Oliver, B. (1994). Letter to the Editor. The Fourth Decade, 1,2,10-11.

5. Kantor (1978).

6. Rose, J. D. (1987). You don't know me, but you will: The World of Jack Ruby. The Third Decade,4,1,1-28.

7. Kantor, The Ruby cover-up.

8. Moyer, M. A. & Gallagher, R.F. (1997). Where was Jack Ruby on November 21 and November 22? Fourth Decade, 4,2,7-14.

9. JFK Assassination: As it Happened (NBC, November 22, 1963, rebroadcast, A&E, November 22, 1988).

10. Shaw, G. with Harris, L. (1976). Cover-up. Cleburne, Tx: the authors.

11. Interview with Beverly Oliver Massagee,  July 22, 1997.

12. Oliver, B. (1993). Beverly Oliver Responds: An Open Letter to the Research Community. The Third Decade. 9,5,9-13,

13. Marrs, J. (1989). Crossfire: The Plot that Killed Kennedy.

New York: Carroll & Graf.

14.Inkbol, S. (1992). Jack Lawrence Responds. The Third Decade,8,6,1-17.

15. Inkbol, S. (1997). Letter to the Editor. The Fourth Decade, 4,5,30-31.

16. Inkbol, S. (1991). Jack Lawrence, Assassin or Fall Guy? The Third Decade,  7,5,1-17.

17. Van Wynsberghe, S. (1997). Chauncy Holt and Problematic Sources. The Fourth Decade. 4,3,19-23.

18. Oliver, B. (1993). Beverly Oliver Responds: An Open Letter to the Research Community. The Third Decade, 9,5,9-13.

19. Oliver, B. (1994). Letter to the Editor. The Fourth Decade, 1,2,10-11.

20. Interview with Beverly Oliver Massagee,  July 22, 1997.

21. Rose, J. D. (1992). Editor's Note. Third Decade,8,6,17.

22. The Men Who killed Kennedy. (1988, October, November). A&E Cable Television.

23. JFK. (1991). (motion picture, produced by Oliver Stone).

24. Brown, R. with Lassiter, D. (1996). Broken Silence: The Truth about Lee Harvey Oswald, LBJ, and the Assassination of JFK. New York: Pinnacle Press.

25. Turner,W. & Christian, J. (1993). The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy: The Conspiracy and Coverup. New York: Thunder Mouth Press.

26. Pendergrast, M. (1995). Victims of Memory: Incest Accusations and Shattered lives. Hinesburg, VT: Upper Access, Inc.

27. Loftus, E. & Ketcham, K. (1994). The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and the Allegations of Sexual Abuse. New York: St. Martin's Press.

28. Marrs, Crossfire.

29. Posner G. (1993). Case Closed. New York: Random House.

30. Whitmey, P. R. (1997). Letter to the Editor. The Fourth Decade, 4,2,29-30.

31. Interview with Beverly Oliver Massagee, July 22, 1997.

From The Fourth Decade: A Journal of Research on the John F. Kennedy Assassination. (1997). 4, 6, 21-26.            

Who Was Richard Cain

                                                        Who Was Richard Cain?

                                                          John Delane Williams

Only a few of the JFK assassination stories ever mention Richard Cain. Cain was said to be Sam Giancana’s companion/bodyguard; Cain was also said to have helped the CIA with spying on Cuba prior to the Bay of Pigs fiasco. [1] Cain was born Richard Scully Cain to John Cain and Lydia Scully on October 4, 1931. [2] Events seem to obscure this simple fact. Perhaps, Richard Cain’s adding seven years to his age (so that the then 18 year old Cain could pursue a 25 year old sweetheart in the Virgin Islands, whom he married) led to this confusion. The seven extra years stayed with him through his life. People knew his mother married John Cain, but with Richard’s additional seven years, he was apparently born in 1924, six years before his parents married. Richard’s maternal grandfather, Olympio Scarlzitti, changed his name to Ole Scully (both to Americanize his name and to avoid creditors). He started the White Hand to counteract the Black Hand, a Sicilian group of gangsters (but not part of the Mafia). Scully was killed by members of the Black Hand in 1928. [3]

Cain joined the army at 16, and never finished high school. He moved to Miami with his wife (his Virgin Islands sweetheart) and her five year old daughter, where he joined a small private investigations firm, learning the arts of wiretapping and surveillance. He learned to speak Spanish (previously, he spoke Italian and English). While at the Miami firm, he would go to Cuba to monitor government activity for clients in the Miami area. [4]. He also tapped the phones of Cuban revolutionary leaders for Batista [5].

 After a six-month stint in Bay City, Michigan, where he tried to establish a better relationship with his father, Cain moved back to Chicago where his first job was with the United Parcel Service (UPS) as a security officer. He would investigate credit card fraud for UPS for Sears. Sears was one of UPS’s bigger clients. Cain’s work brought him into contact with local police, and he started thinking about a career in police work. An old family friend, Sam Giancana, encouraged him to pursue a police career. Cain became a “made” member of the mob, known as “The Outfit” in Chicago. In the fall of 1955, Cain enrolled at the Keeler Institute of Polygraph to learn the use of the lie detector. Cain finished the six week course and became licensed as a polygraph operator. He applied for and was accepted into the Chicago Police Academy; he had changed his birth date to October 4, 1924, so he was apparently 31 years old. He was too short (5’7”) and his eyesight (20/200) was too poor, but enough money was spread in the right places to remove those technicalities. Giancana had plans for Cain to become his bagman (distributing money to willing officers). Cain was sworn in during May 1956. [6]

After a year of keeping his nose clean, Cain managed his way into the detective bureau. Giancana matched Cain’s salary of $9000 for his work with The Outfit, which included handling the bag money for willing policemen, and warning Giancana of raids on the Outfit’s enterprises. When not doing The Outfit’s bidding, Cain apparently was a good cop. Cain did like seeing his name or picture in the paper, so he would often take a reporter with him to many of the busts (of non-Outfit crime). In January 1960, Cain took a leave of absence from the Chicago PD, ostensibly to take a vacation. The “vacation” was working with Illinois State’s Attorney Ben Adamowski, to spy on Mayor Richard Daley’s commissioner of investigations, Irwin Cohen. Cohen investigated Daley’s political rivals, and presumably did other bag jobs for Daley.  Cain installed a camera across the hall in a transom to photograph everyone who entered Cohen’s office. Someone quickly spotted the camera, and the Chicago PD was called to investigate. Given Cain’s area of expertise, Cain immediately became a suspect. Following a four month investigation, Cain cut a deal to resign his position with the Chicago PD in exchange for avoiding prosecution. In what would seem a curious turn of events, Cain next took a job in Springfield, Missouri to assist in investigating police corruption there. Cain turned in a report in August 1960 that resulted in the firing of 13 officers, including the Chief of Police.  Cain had earlier started a business in Chicago called Accurate Laboratories; their strong suits were wiretaps and polygraphs. This business became Cain’s focus upon returning to Chicago. One of Cain’s clients was Hugh Heffner and Playboy Enterprises, to make sure none of the Playboy bunnies had any extra-curricular contact with Playboy Club clients. [7].

Cain and the Cubans

Cain’s first contact with Cuban ex-patriots was in 1950-52 when he was learning the surveillance trade in Miami, and doing investigative work for Batista. The next instance of a significant nature occurred starting around January 15, 1959. A limousine stopped at Cain’s house and let off 6 men. For the next several weeks, they lived in his garage. One of the men would eat with Cain and his family; the man spoke only in Spanish, and only to Cain. Eventually, a limousine came by and picked up the six men. Over a decade later, Karla, then a teenager, asked Cain, “Daddy, do you remember when we had a house in Glenview? Some men came to our house and stayed in the garage for a time. One of them ate with us in the kitchen. Who was that man?” Cain replied, “Fulgencio Batista, the former president of Cuba.” [8]

It has been reported that Richard Cain recruited Spanish speaking toughs for commando training in Miami and Central America prior to the Bay of Pigs [9] Michael Cain, Richard’s younger brother, disputed this, suggesting that there was no evidence that this is true (that is, before the Bay of Pigs). [10] Information that became available since the publication of Michael Cain’s book changes his assessment. Batisita wasn’t just hiding out in Richard Cain’s garage, the two of them were planning a training program for Cuban nationals at the Glenview Naval Air Station North of Chicago, preparing for what would become the Bay of Pigs invasion. The station was operated with the consent and assistance of the CIA. There was training in small arms, hand to hand combat, and even training for a few fighter pilots. [11] Cain did become involved with Operation 40 (a project to eliminate Castro), but not by way of infiltrating the CIA operation with the Mafia, as was suggested by Kohn [12]. Richard Bissell, the CIA’s deputy director for plans, approached Sheffield Edwards, Director of Security for the CIA, regarding having the Mafia assassinate Castro. Edwards contacted Robert Maheu, who in turn contacted Johnny Rosselli. Roselli said his boss, Sam Giancana, needed to be involved. The CIA gave Giancana the contract; Giancana turned to Richard Cain. The plan was to use a botulism pill with Castro. In October, 1960, Cain began interviewing Cuban refugees and preparing reports for CIA station chief, William Lohmann, in Chicago. In late 1960, Cain entered Cuba with the botulism pills, getting as far as Castro’s office. [13] He had traveled with a Cuban woman. They could not find a suitable way to plant the pills so that they would be ingested by Castro. In exiting the grounds Cain narrowly escaped. His female partner was captured, quickly tried and executed. It was decided that this particular plan had to be discarded. [14] After the Bay of Pigs, Cain offered his services to Cubans in Miami and Chicago. On May 17, 1961 Cain became a bodyguard for Jose Ignacio Rasco, a Cuban refugee who had been a party leader for the Christian Democratic Party in Cuba. However, Cain saw the Cuban situation as drying up regarding opportunities for him. He saw himself as becoming an international free agent in espionage. He was asked to go to Panama and infiltrate youth groups and other groups to gauge their attitudes and identify communist recruitment efforts, but first he would  go to Mexico to set up a base of operations. [15]

Mexico

Cain went about setting up his business in Mexico, and then went to Panama for six weeks; his work there would go unpaid, leaving just enough money to get back to Mexico. The Federal Police had set up space at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) for Cain to teach a 13 week course on the use of polygraph machines; it started in December, 1961. The university (UNAM) issued him an honorary doctorate in Police Science, at the instigation of the Mexico Secret Service. It seems Richard Cain had become a hit with various Mexican police agencies. Cain continued training Cuban ex-patriots in the use of weapons, helping prepare them for a second invasion against Castro. Cain began writing articles for police related magazines, and was appointed a technical advisor to the Policia Fiscal de Hacienda, which gave him an office there, along with police ID. He continued teaching classes at UNAM. He also starred in a documentary movie about scientific criminal investigation. Things went well until he beat a parking attendant, and then arrested him, using his Mexican police credentials. He was deported in June, 1962. But he apparently left behind several devoted students. [16]

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office

While in Mexico, Cain was plotting his next move—back to Chicago. He contacted Richard Ogilvie, whom Cain had met when Ogilvie was a young U.S. Attorney. Ogilvie was now running for Sheriff of Cook County, and Richard Cain had a deal for him. Ogilvie, as a Republican, would face long odds in a county that typically voted for Democrats. Cain promised to deliver the election to Ogilvie- for a price. Cain was to be appointed chief of a new Special Investigations Unit (SIU). The SIU was an anti-vice and anti-organized crime unit, which would give Ogilvie a platform to run for governor of Illinois. Ogilvie agreed to support Cain for Sheriff when Ogilvie’s term expired. Cain was honest about his mob ties; Cain intended to wrest control of the Outfit from the old timers. Cain was duly appointed SIU chief, and in two short years redefined police corruption. Cain arranged meetings with Sam Giancanna, Tony Accardo, and Joey Aiuppa, Chicago mob bosses. Cain explained to them the new rules they would have to play by. Only Aiuppa demurred; Aiuppa was kidnapped by Cain and two accomplices. They took Aiuppa to an abandoned farmhouse and stripped him and handcuffed him to a water pipe in the basement. After three days, Aiuppa capitulated. He was given a raincoat, a $100 bill, and dumped at a bus station in Danville, Illinois. Aiuppa, who was the boss in Cicero, was late with his tribute to Cain on more than one occasion. An SIU undercover team was dispatched to Cicero to gather evidence for a warrant; several nights later, Cain and several officers arrested several prostitutes and the club manager, only to be stopped by the Cicero police with guns drawn, demanding the prisoners be released. Cain returned the next night with 150 deputies, a handful of Illinois State Troopers, and a couple of reporters. Cain saw himself as the untouchable ruler. Not only did the police do what Cain told them to do, so also did the Outfit obey. Ogilvie did become governor. Cain was stopped in his march to become Sheriff when he was indicted for perjury in the Zahn Drug case. The drug company lost $250,000 worth of drugs in a burglary. In a raid of a motel led by Cain, $42,000 worth of drugs was recovered. It was determined that the raid was staged. In December, 1964, Cain was convicted regarding the Zahn Drug case; Cain was fired from the sheriff’s office upon the conviction. [17]

1965-1971; Chicago, Mexico and Prison

Sam Giancana was held in contempt for not answering questions to a Grand Jury in the spring of 1965. He was held in jail until the Grand Jury ended, which was late May 1966. Cain was in Texas; Giancana was driven to Texas by Butch Blasi, and Cain drove him to Mexico City; soon, they would move to a villa in Cuernavaca. Cain would take frequent trips to Chicago, where Blasi was taking care of Giancana’s interests. During one such trip, Cain met with Bill Roemer of the FBI, who tried unsuccessfully to recruit Cain to inform on the Chicago mob. [18]

Cain was indicted for misprision of a felony, aiding and abetting criminals, and obstruction of justice. The case involved a bank robbery; Cain’s alleged involvement was after the robbery, and amounted to having knowledge of a felony without reporting it to other officials. The robbery took place when Cain worked in the Cook County Sheriff’s Department, though the trial occurred three years later. There was virtually no evidence against Cain, but he was tried along with three co-defendants who were involved. All four were convicted. Cain was sentenced to two concurrent four-year terms and one con-current three year term, and fined $13,000.[19] Cain was released on parole on October 20, 1971. Just before his release, his third (or fourth) wife divorced him. [20]

Chicago, October, 1971 to April 1972

Because Cain was on parole, he had to remain in Illinois until April, 1972. Sam Giancana made arrangements so that Cain might make a living. He picked up the numbers game in the black areas of Chicago. Cain also initiated meetings with FBI agent Bill Roemer. Cain wanted to take up Roemer on being a “top-echelon informant”. The bureau granted authority to Roemer to pay Cain for his information, but they were unwilling to designate him a top-echelon informant. [21] Roemer [22] has also written about his meetings with Cain; these meeting took place in Cain’s apartment on Wednesday afternoons from 1 to 5 P.M.  The black numbers racket withered; though Cain sought to move up in the Outfit, getting back with Giancana in Mexico became his next goal. [23]

Cuernavaca

After Cain’s parole expired on April 5, 1972, he spent a lot of time traveling between Chicago and Sam Giancana’s villa outside Cuernavaca. At times, Cain would fly, but he often would make the trip by automobile. Because of his failing eyesight, Cain needed someone else to drive. His driver was Michael Gilardi; Gilardi would also double as Cain’s bodyguard. Cain’s travels involved Giancana’s business interests. On at least one occasion, it included smuggling a box full of diamonds into the United States. Other times, drugs and other precious and semi-precious stones were brought in. Cain had at least six passports, one of which was legitimate. His legitimate passport and illegitimate passports would indicate a very busy man, including going to Bogata, Columbia, London, Athens and back to Columbia in a span of little more than a week. He would visit London, Luxembourg, Malta, Beirut, Columbia, and Greece, multiple times. Cain is said to have visited Switzerland, Italy, and Iran, though they don’t appear on his passport(s). He saw his youngest daughter by his first wife for the first time in Rome. The daughter had been told by her mother that her father had died.

Cain was also managing a brothel for Giancana in Spain. Cain often helped Giancana negotiate casino deals. The two of them opened a casino in Beruit, where Sam also owned a home. Apparently the brothel also served as a conduit for heroin destined for the United States. [24] Antoinette Giancana, Sam’s daughter, speculated that the demise of both Cain and her father related to their unwillingness to share their income from off-shore gambling with the mob. [25]

Cain maintained contact with FBI agent Bill Roemer. Cain explained that the Outfit in Chicago had gone through considerable change. Organized crime was no longer organized in Chicago. The Outfit still existed, but without a boss, and with freedom of movement for members. Additionally some sort of fallout occurred between Cain and Giancana (though this may have been a ruse of Cain’s). Cain would make his final trip to Chicago on December 2, 1973. [26]

Conversations in Cuernavaca

   

A former colleague of mine and her husband (who prefer to be unnamed) were living in Cuernavaca in 1970-72, after both had finished a stint in the Peace Corps. The husband worked with a partner running restaurants in Mexico. The couple was friendly with the ex-patriot community and had been invited on occasion to the home of Canta Gimble, the former wife of Baruch Gimble of Gimble’s of New York (the department store); Canta was said to be romantically involved with Sam Giancana; Gimble and Giancana maintained separate residences. At a luncheon at Canta’s home, the couple noticed a brooding man with dark hair and coke bottle eyeglasses in a corner who introduced himself as Dick Cain. Cain, Canta, and the couple were the only person’s at the luncheon. Without any prompting, Cain became animated in his disgust for President Kennedy regarding Kennedy’s failure to provide air support for the Bay of Pigs invasion. Cain felt he had been let down personally. It was the couple’s impression that Cain was part of the invasion force, and that he had personally recruited and trained many of the men who were killed or imprisoned in Cuba. The couple met with Cain twice, each time at Canta Gimble’s villa. Cain did promise that he would help the husband with any problems with the selling of the restaurants to a partner (making sure the payments would continue after the couple returned to the U.S.) There were no problems with the payments which were spread over two years. The couple never found out whether Cain talked to the husband’s partner.

A confidant of Cain’s in Cuernavaca, Ernie Purdy, had much more to say about Cain. Purdy was an ex-patriot from Australia living in Cuernavaca. Cain had entrusted Purdy with a manuscript which “told everything”, including Cain’s involvement in the JFK assassination. Purdy said he received postcards from around the globe from Cain as he traveled from place to place. Purdy said he destroyed the manuscript without looking at it, for fear that someone might think he knew what was in it. The couple has not heard from Purdy since leaving Mexico. [27, 28]

Cain and the JFK Assassination

Perhaps the most sensational reported relationship between Richard Cain and the JFK assassination is that Cain was the shooter from the sixth floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository; Cain was said to be shooting from the window that was attributed to Oswald. A shooter at the other end of the sixth floor was said to be Charles Nicoletti. [29] The same story is reported in Blakely & Billings, [30] Giancana et. al., and [31] Davies [32] also made the same assertions as the Giancana’s. A different take was offered by Furiati [33] who named the Chicago team as Cain, David Yaras, and Lenny Patrick; Furiati’s source was the Cuban State Security Department. 

What is the likelihood that Cain was one of the shooters in Dealey Plaza? While it could be argued that Cain would have been a poor choice, due to his eyesight, there is an even better reason to reject him as a possible shooter in Dallas—at the time of the assassination, he was in Chicago.

Jim Malcotte, who worked for Richard Cain in the Cook County Sheriff’s Department, was testifying in a grand jury proceeding on November 22, 1963 when his testimony was interrupted by a sheriff’s deputy who came in the room and announced that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. Cain was sitting in the hallway waiting to testify after Malcotte had finished. [34]

A second story is more complex, and has a very different stream. An attempt was said to be made to falsification of information of an Oswald-Kostikov link; this part of the planning was done by a small part of the CIA that housed the CIA-Mafia plots. Mexican personnel trained in the previous year by Cain would have been in important positions to aid in the process of forging a link between Oswald and the KGB agent, Valeriy Kostikov, who was housed in the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City. It appears that the CIA station in Mexico City might be taking independent actions, together with their Mexican assets to embroil the CIA in a war with Cuba. The CIA Headquarters feared that this was the case, and when the CIA station in Mexico City requested the arrest of Sylvia Duran by the Mexican police, it was felt that she would be pressured to admit she was the link to the International Communists. At the same time, the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Thomas Mann, was arguing that Cuba was involved in the assassination. Starting a war with Cuba was a strong interest of the Mafia and certain groups within the CIA. [35]

An obviously false Oswald was photographed at the Soviet Embassy and the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City during September, 1963. The person photographed and originally identified as Oswald has since been identified as Ralph Geb, a high school classmate and football teammate of another person implicated in the JFK assassination, Malcolm Wallace. Geb and Wallace graduated from high school the same year as Lee Harvey Oswald was born.  [36] There were audio tapes made of the bogus Oswald at the Soviet Embassy.

Cain’s involvement

In a conversation between Lyndon Johnson and J. Edgar Hoover on November 23, 1963:

LBJ: “Have you established any more about the visit to the Soviet embassy in Mexico in September?”

Hoover: “No, that’s one angle that’s very confusing, for this reason—we have up here the tape and the photograph of the man who was at the Soviet embassy, using Oswald’s name. The picture and the tape do not correspond to this man’s voice, nor to his appearance. In other words, it appears that there is a second person who was at the Soviet embassy down there.” [37]

The tapes that Hoover listened to were said by the CIA to have been routinely destroyed. The claim of having destroyed the tapes was made at the same time Hoover was reporting to President Johnson regarding Hoover’s copy of the tapes. [38]

Malcolm Wallace was a convicted murderer who was implicated in a number of murders, reputedly at the behest of Lyndon Johnson. [39, 40] Also, the one identified fingerprint on the sixth floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository was, in 1998, concluded to belong to Malcolm Wallace. [41, 42]

Cain’s relationship to this scenario is that he helped train the Mexican police from a variety of agencies when he was teaching his courses at Mexico City University; he may well have trained other personnel on an individual basis. In particular, personnel from the Mexican Direccion Federal de Seguridad (DFS) were involved in a program, LIENVOY, a collaborative effort between the CIA and the DFS to attempt to link a false Oswald to Kostikov; this false link was said to have been a major pretext to form the Warren Commision to reach a less dangerous conclusion of a lone assassin. [43]. Because President Johnson acted so quickly (he already knew about the false Oswald, from his conversation with J. Edgar Hoover on November 23, 1963), any direct involvement by Cain with the attempts to link Cuba and/or the Soviet Union in Mexico City would likely have been by accomplished by Cain remaining in or near Chicago. Otherwise, his involvement was related to his pre-assassination efforts. The conspiracy that Cain seems to be involved with was with trying to deflect the responsibility for the assassination to International Communism; Cain’s own preference would seem to have been to deflect the responsibility to Fidel Castro; the overthrow of Castro was seen by Organized Crime as the conduit for the mob’s re-entry to Havana. Cain felt Kennedy had personally let him (Cain) down with Kennedy’s failure to provide air support for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. [44]

The Death of Richard Cain     

Richard Cain returned to Chicago on December 2, 1973. He would be on the earth only 18 more days, but they were busy days indeed. He fashioned himself as becoming the boss of the Outfit the old fashioned way, by killing all of the leaders. [45] The plan was for a New Year’s Eve coup; there was a hit team scheduled for Hawaii, where Sam Giancana spent most of his New Year’s Eves. [46] In those last 18 days, Cain acquired four new lady loves, who knew of each other, yet each was “in love” with Cain. [47]

On December 20^th, Michael Gilardi picked up Cain to go to a luncheon meeting with Marshall Caifano at Rose’s Sandwich Shop, a small Italian cafe. Usually Gilardi would join Cain for lunch, but on this day, Gilardi claimed he had to go to his doctor. Cain and Caifano talked over lunch, and Caifano asked Cain to get something. Cain returned to Rose’s at 12:30 P.M. He was met by two men wearing ski masks; they held four customers, a waitress and the owner at gunpoint against the wall. Caifano had already left. Cain was ordered to stand against the back wall with his back to the kitchen. Cain faced the shooter; no words were exchanged. The shooter shot Cain with his double barreled shotgun, the buckshot went upwards to Cain’s chin, tearing away the right side of Cain’s face. Death was instantaneous. [48] When the Outfit discovered Cain’s plan, they had him murdered. [49]

Notes

1. Ashman, C. (1975). The CIA-Mafia link. New York: Manor Books.
2. Cain, M. J. (2007). The Tangled Web: The Life and Death of Richard Cain- Chicago Cop and Mafia Hitman. New York: Skyhorse Publishing; p. 17.
3. Cain, M.J. (2007).
4. Cain, M.J. (2007), pp. 24-25.
5. Hearing and Report of the House Select Committee on Assassinations. (1979) Washington: Government Printing Office.
6. Cain, M.J. (2007).  pp. 29-30.
7. Cain, M.J. (2007), pp. 57-63.
8. Cain, M.J. (2007), p. 61.
9. Time, June 16, 1975.
10. Cain, M.J. Personal Communication, December 3, 2003.
11. Cain, M.J. (2009). The Tangled Web. Paperback edition. New York: Skyhorse Publishing; Introduction.
12. Kohn, H. (1976). The Hughes-Lansky-Nixon Connection. Rolling Stone, May 20.
13. Furiati, C. (1994).  ZR Rifle: The Plot to Kill Kennedy and Castro. Melbourne, Australia: Ocean Press.
14. Cain, M.J. (2007), pp. 71-79.
15. Cain, M.J. (2007), pp. 84-85.
16. Cain, M.J. (2007), pp. 93-97.
17. Cain, M.J. (2009), Introduction.
18. Cain, M.J. (2007), pp. 133-137.
19. Cain, M.J. (2007), p. 157.
20. Cain, M.J. (2007), p. 186.
21. Cain, M.J. (2007), p. 193.
22. Roemer, W.F. (1994). The Enforcer: The Chicago Mob’s Man over Las Vegas. New York: Ivy Books.
23. Cain, M.J. (2007), p. 194.
24. Cain, M.J. (2007), pp. 200-203.
25. Giancana, A. & Renner, T.C. (1984). Mafia Princess: Growing up in Sam Giancana’s Family. New York: William Morrow & Co.
26. Cain, M.J. (2007), pp. 205-206.
27. I began the conversations with the colleague on Cain around 1985. Though I had read extensively on the JFK assassination for several years, it was a dozen more before I attempted to write anything on the assassination. I thank the former colleague and her husband for their cooperation.
28. Michael Cain has no knowledge of the manuscript entrusted to Purdy, nor knowledge of Purdy himself. Michael Cain does have a copy of a manuscript by his brother Richard on the Bay of Pigs invasion. e-mail from Michael Cain, 12/03/2008.
29. Giancana, S. & Giancana, C. (1992). Double Cross: The explosive, inside story of the Mobster who controlled America. New York: Warner Books. pp, 334-335.
30. Blakely, G.R. & Billings, R.N. (1992). Fatal Hour. New York: Berkley.
31. Giancana, A., Hughes, J.R. & Jobe, T.H. (2005). JFK and Sam:The Connection between the Giancana and Kennedy Assassinations. Nashville, TN: Cumberland House.
32. Cain, M.J. (2007), p. 129.
33. Furiati, p. 163.
34. Cain, M.J. (2007), p. 129.
35. Scott, P.D. (1995). Deep Politics II: Oswald, Mexico, and Cuba. Skokie, IL: Green Archives, p. 117.
36. Sample, G. & Collom, M. (1997). The Men on the Sixth Floor. Garden Grove, CA: Sample Graphics, pp. 96-105.
37. Beschloss, M.R. (1997). Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-1964. New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 22-23.
38. Douglass, J.W. (2008), JFK and the Unspeakable. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, pp. 80-81.
39. Caddy, D. (1984). Letter for Billie Sol Estes Seeking Immunity from Federal Prosecution. In Sardie, L. (1998). LBJ: A Closer Look. www.booksonvideo.com.
40. Williams, J.D. (1999). Lyndon B. Johnson and the Assassination Conspiracies. JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly, 4, 2, 25-28.
41. Brown,.W. (1998) TSBD Evidence Places LBJ Hitman in Sniper’s Nest. JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly, 3, Extra Edition;
42. Brown, W. (2001). Mac Wallace: “It’s Him!” JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly, 7, 1, 4-6. This article describes a 34 point match between Mac Wallace’s fingerprint and the previously unidentified fingerprint from the sixth floor of the TSBD.
43. Scott, P.D. (1995). p. 117.
44. See note [27]
45. Cain, M.J. (2009), Introduction.
46. e-mail from Michael J. Cain, 8/8/2008.
47. Cain, M.J. (2007), p. 210.
48. Cain, M.J. (2007), pp 217-220.
49. Cain, M.J. (2009), Introduction.

 From JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly, (2009). 14, 3, 10-22.